2 Answers

Its a very old text, but very well written though it only has bullet point safe water messages on this "Safe Drinking Water" but has a lot of very good tested advice on Hygiene Education Policy. The Text is Hygiene Education Policy Guidelines for Afghanistan" prepared by Ministry of Health and ACBAR Hygiene Education Working Group in collaboration with Water & Sanitation Sector Group for Afghanistan March 2001 (including Save the Children, WHO, UNICEF... et all). I recommend to have a look at it. It was very successful in Afghanistan, and from my knowledge of rural Cambodia (been here a few years with Cambodian wife from rural village, and son, we have a home in rural village) it could be used / adapted here in Cambodia. You will also need to look at other aspects such as shared utensils (shared cup / glass), the hygiene of the traditional village water storage jars (their maintenance, cleaning, etc) , unsuitabi;lity of tap water in city even, definitely the ice is a big and prevalent issue ... look at the way it is carried, handled, crushed and its ubiquitous uses, rainwater harvesting from roofs, water taken from aquifers that are too shallow and are river contaminated, wells that have been contaminated by seasonal flooding overtoping the well apron, indiscriminate reuse of plastic (and other) water bottles, and that in some locations the ground water is naturally contaminated with local deposits of minerals / heavy metal (eg natutrally occurring arsenic). There is also some very good graphics on this (2 pages) in the Helvetas Sri Lanka Pocket Booklet (Section on Drinking Water Supply and sanitation) If you need a copy of the book (it is too old to be soft copy) or other materials contact me at c.nixon@online.com.kh, 012388964 ..... if I am away and my wife answers speak slowly leaving a message and contact as English is not her first language. Chris Nixon

All of those are ways to contaminate water and many others, we could keep making a long list of "do not (s).... " Normally we conduct a KAP survey (knowledge Attitudes and Practices) to see what people understand about, in this case water quality and water protection, identify harmful practices and assumptions. This would then be very helpful in designing a targeted campaign for your context.

I would like to suggest that the campaign should have a healthy section on "do .... " based activities that focus on preserving and protecting water quality.

Do use a protected water source. Protected water source in (context) are (type of water source)
Do treat your water if you are uncertain of the water quality. Water treatment can be done using boiling.
Do collect in a container that is clean and has a tight fitting lid.
Do store in a container that is cleaned regularly has a tight fitting lid and the water is accessed through a tap